2011 Center for Editing Excellence
Eleven college students and recent college graduates are headed to paid copy editing internships on daily newspapers and an online news service after completing 10 days of intensive preparation at the University of Texas at Austin.
The interns are among a select group of 81 undergraduate and graduate students placed in internships in copy editing, business reporting and online journalism. They are part of a competitive national program funded by the Dow Jones News Fund, a foundation of the Dow Jones Company, and participating newspapers. More than 600 students applied for the program.
The School of Journalism at UT Austin, one of five pre-internship training sites for copy editors and designers, has been part of the News Fund program since 1997.
Participants in the UT workshop were involved in newspaper copy editing, design and production assignments and online journalism. Newspaper professionals, visiting faculty and UT journalism faculty moderated the sessions.
In the latter half of the pre-internship training, participants produced three issues of a live, model newspaper, the Southwest Journalist, and a companion online product, swjournalist.com. The Austin American-Statesman provided printing services for the newspaper.
The UT-News Fund interns will serve internships of 10-14 weeks.
Participants in the UT Austin workshop, including their universities and host news organizations, are
- Kelly Belton, Louisiana Tech University, The El Paso Times;
- Kenneth Contrata, University of Arizona, The Denver Post;
- Celia Darrough, University of Oregon, The Record of Stockton-San Joaquin, Calif.;
- Geoffrey DeCanio, University of Texas at Austin, California Watch;
- Carol Fan, UCLA, San Francisco Chronicle;
- Katie Goodwin, University of Nevada, San Francisco Chronicle;
- Leslie Hansen, University of Texas at Austin, The Beaumont Enterprise;
- Margaux Henquinet, University of Missouri, The Tribune, San Luis Obispo, Calif.;
- Nicole Hill, University of Oklahoma, Austin American-Statesman;
- Chris Lusk, University of Oklahoma, The Dallas Morning News; and
- Nora Simon, University of Oregon, The Oregonian, Portland.
Grants from the News Fund and contributions from participating newspapers cover the cost of the workshops, including instruction, housing, meals and transportation for participants.
Participating newspapers in turn pay interns a weekly wage for their work during the internship. Students returning to their universities after the internships are eligible for a $1,000 scholarship provided by the News Fund.
Directing the UT workshop were S. Griffin Singer, director; Beth Butler and George Sylvie, assistant directors; and Sonia Reyes-Krempin, administrative assistant of the UT School of Journalism.
Faculty included Amy Zerba of the University of Florida, formerly with CNN.com, Atlanta, Ga. and the Austin American-Statesman; Richard Holden, executive director of the Newspaper Fund; and Bradley Wilson, coordinator of student media advising at North Carolina State University. Drew Marcks, assistant managing editor of the Austin American-Statesman, coordinated the interns’ visit to that newspaper.
Similar Newspaper Fund pre-internship training centers for copy editors and designers are at the University of Missouri, the University of Nebraska, Penn State University and Temple University. An online editing program is at Western Kentucky University.
CLICK HERE to view the June 1, 2011 issue.
CLICK HERE to view the June 2, 2011 issue.
CLICK HERE to view the June 3, 2011 issue.
CLICK HERE to view photo gallery.